Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 00:04:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Kris Kennaway <kris@FreeBSD.org> To: Mark Murray <mark@grondar.za> Cc: current@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: randomdev entropy gathering is really weak Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0007170003110.2839-100000@freefall.freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <200007170615.IAA05906@grimreaper.grondar.za>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Mon, 17 Jul 2000, Mark Murray wrote:
> > On the other hand, doing a dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/null gives me
> > infinite "randomness" at 10MB/sec - have the semantics of /dev/random
> > changed?
>
> Yes; remember that what we have here is Yarrow algorithm; which is an
> algorithm for cryptographically secure PRNG - one whose internal state
> is unguessable, or if compromised folr some reason is self-recovering.
>
> "Infinite" randomness is possible with this algorithm.
On the other hand, didn't you say that at system boot the RNG is
essentially unseeded, so this is actually a liability because processes
cannot be sure they're getting real randomness.
Kris
--
In God we Trust -- all others must submit an X.509 certificate.
-- Charles Forsythe <forsythe@alum.mit.edu>
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.4.21.0007170003110.2839-100000>